Ed

About Ed

Ed was four years old when his parents met two Mormon missionaries and decided to get baptized. So Ed grew up in a conservative LDS family in Illinois. When he was 20 he went to Japan to serve a two years LDS mission. Within one year of returning from his mission he married a Japanese girl he met at college. Five years later they had a baby boy and named him Eddie, after his father. Eddie was also raised LDS and seemed like the perfect Mormon boy. When Eddie was 17 he told his Dad that he was gay. Then two years later he told him that he wasn’t gay, he was a woman trapped in a man’s body. Today Eri (still pronounced like “Eddie”) and her father are very close and have appeared together in a documentary, radio and TV shows and speak every opportunity they have about their experience, hoping to be a support and help to other people who are going through similar experiences. One of the things that makes Ed unique is that he has been able to reconcile the passion he has for helping members of the LGBT community with his LDS faith.

Voices of Hope book

This website was created as an extension of the book, published in 2011, to reach other Latter-day Saints who experience same-sex attraction or gender dysphoria and let them know that they are not alone, and that there is hope.

A North Star Initiative

The Voices of Hope Project is an initiative of North Star International, a 501(c)3 non-profit educational organization that serves as a faith-affirming place of community and resource for Latter-day Saints addressing sexual orientation and gender identity as well as their family, friends, and ecclesiastical leaders. North Star serves those who desire to live in harmony with the teachings of Jesus Christ and the doctrines and values of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Learn more about North Star.

North Star International is a 501(C)3 non-profit organization. North Star is not owned by or affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and site content should not be interpreted as official statements of Church doctrine, belief, or practice. While North Star wholly supports the doctrines and values of the Church of Jesus Christ, all views expressed or errors made are the sole responsibility of site contributors.